Skeleton Barrel
The Skeleton Barrel card is unlocked from Builders Workshop (Arena 6). It is a flying, building-targeting troop with medium hitpoints that drops seven Skeletons once it is destroyed or reaches a building, similar to the Battle Ram. A Skeleton Barrel card costs 3 Elixir to deploy. It is a spiked black barrel with a white skull painted on the front tied to three team-colored balloons. Strategy * Even though the Barrel itself won't reach the Princess Tower by itself, the Skeletons will deal massive damage to the tower even when sent in alone. * The Log or Zap are the best spells to counter the Skeletons from the Skeleton Barrel since its death damage doesn't deal too much damage, and these cheap spells can easily destroy all of the Skeletons for a positive Elixir trade. The player must account for the 1-second animation where neither the Barrel nor the Skeletons are considered as entities; if the spell spell is cast during this phase it will not affect the Skeletons. ** Similar to the Goblin Barrel, the Skeletons will only spawn when the the barrel falls to the ground and splits open. * An excellent synergy is with Zap. The Skeleton Barrel's death damage combined with a Zap will take out Goblins and Minions. If the opponent is caught off-guard, this can inflict heavy damage to their Crown Towers. This synergy can help protect cards such as the Hog Rider and the Lava Hound. * The Skeleton Barrel excels at distracting the Inferno Tower and the Inferno Dragon the Skeleton Barrel targets buildings and drops several Skeletons which the Inferno Tower cannot deal with on its own. This can force out a card that the opponent doesn't want to play, such as a Valkyrie or Zap. ** Because of this, Skeleton Barrels can shield important cards incredibly well. The player can either lay a Skeleton Barrel near the center of the Arena or play it in front of a tank. The latter should be used to counter Inferno cards placed on the outside of the Arena. The Skeleton Barrel can distract any air-targeting defenses and/or help destroy a building. Should the Skeleton Barrel be destroyed, the spawned Skeletons can attack any defenses while the tank draws fire. History * On 31/10/17, the Skeleton Barrel became obtainable by achieving 9 wins in the Halloween Draft Challenge. * From 11/11/17 through 14/11/17, the Shop has a special offer that Arena 6+ players can buy up to six Giant Chests at the normal price that guarantee at least 40% of total cards (or 50% of all common cards) to be Skeleton Barrel. * The Skeleton Barrel was added to the game on 17/11/2017. *On 12/12/17, a Balance Update allowed the Skeleton Barrel to deal Death Damage. *On 12/2/18, a Balance Update decreased the number of spawned Skeletons to 6 (from 8). *On 25/4/18, the Clan Wars update increased the number of spawned Skeletons to 7 (from 6). Trivia *The Skeleton Barrel was playable in the Mirror Challenge on 17/10/17, before its release date, as an unintended glitch. Supercell fixed this glitch with a maintenance break. *The Skeleton Barrel is one of the 11 cards associated with Skeletons, including the Skeletons, Bomber, Skeleton Army, Witch, Tombstone, Bomb Tower, Giant Skeleton, Balloon, Guards, and Graveyard. The Bomber and the Graveyard are the only ones among them not given as one-time rewards in the Halloween Draft Challenge. *The Skeleton Barrel has the same deploying sound as the Balloon. *The Skeleton Barrel has the same number of hitpoints as an equal level Barbarian. *The Skeleton Barrel and the Royal Giant are the only Common Cards that only target Buildings. *The Skeleton Barrel loses one balloon for each one third of its total hitpoints depleted. That means a Cloned Skeleton Barrel only has one Balloon to start with. These balloons do not regenerate if a Heal spell is used to bring the Skeleton Barrel up to at least one-third (or two-thirds) health. *The Skeleton Barrel's visual appearance resembles Clash of Clans's Air Bombs and its projectiles. However, they function very differently. *The Skeleton Barrel could be inspired by Clash of Clans's Drop Ship, which also does damage and summons skeletons when destroyed. *The Skeleton Barrel's death damage is the same as an equal level Skeleton's hitpoints and damage. de:Skelettfass es:Globos esqueléticos fr:Fût à squelettes ru:Бочка со скелетами